Since the 1980s, the Olympia Beer brand has been passed around several national beer companies, landing with Pabst in 1999. By the time Pabst bought Olympia, it was already a virtual brewer. A maker of beer in name only, or simply a company that owned the intellectual property of branding and making beer, and not the means of brewing itself.

That year was the same year that Olympia the beer was separated from Olympia the brewery, as the building was passed to SABMiller. That outfit ended up closing up shop in Tumwater in 2004.

So, the idea of "Olympia Beer," "It's the Water" (which still weighs pretty heavy around here) is owned out of Los Angeles and is likely controlled by some sunny Southern California creative firm. So, what does that mean?

And, I'll be honest. I'm confused by this Sasquatch (Bigfoot) contest. It seems to have satisfied the minimum requirements of a beer brand game, it got attention with minimal effort by giving a large reward for something that will never happen. It also seems to tap into the sporting nature of drinkers, but I'm not really getting a good idea of how much participation they're getting. Really, most of the "sightings" on their map seem oddly fake.